A PRELIMINARY PEEP. PAGES Admission Fees--Cerberus at the Back Door--The Awe-Stricken Stranger behind the Scene--Swarms of Actors and Employees-- Description of Stage Settings--The Green-Room and Dressing-Room Explored--A Visit to the Dressing-Tent of the Circus--An Act that Beats anything of the kind in the World--The Female Minstrel Gang and the Break-o'-Day Girls 19-27 CHAPTER II. A THEATRE OF SHAKESPEARE'S DAY. Rude Carts as Primitive Stages--Followed by Stone Theatres with Pits for Stages--Theatres of the Elizabethan Period-- Sunday Theatres in the "Golden Age"--Description of the Globe in Shakespeare's Time--Plays in the Times of Henry VIII.-- Sign-boards as Scenes--Anecdote of Charles II.--The "Wits," "Clever" Men and the Vulgar Crowd--Pipes, Tankards, and Gossip 28-36 CHAPTER III. THE AMERICAN THEATRE. Davy Garrick at Drury Lane, London--English Actors sail for America--Voyage in the Charming Sally in 1752--The First American Theatre--The First Programme--The First New York Theatre, 1753--The First Performance in Philadelphia, April, 1754--The First Show in Boston, August, 1792--The Priest and the Spanish Lady--Elegant Theatres of the Present Period 37-42 CHAPTER IV. AT THE STAGE-DOOR. Front Door and Back Door Entrances--"Mashers" at the "Stage-Door" --The Cerberus who Stands Guard--Perquisites Paid to Him-- Bulkhead and the Ballet Girls--The Tricks of the Scene Painter on the Girls--The Girls' Revenge--Bold and Heartless Lovers --Notes Pushed under the Dressing-Room Door--Alice Oates's Mash--Watching the Manœuvres of the "Mashers"--Tale of the Pink Symmetrical 43-54 CHAPTER V. BEFORE THE FOOT-LIGHTS. People who Patronize the Theatre--The Young Blood--Members of the "Profesh"--The Giddy and Gushing Usher--The Bouncer-- The Peanut Cruncher--The People who go out "Between Acts"-- The Big Hat Nuisance--Anecdote of George and Harry 55-68 CHAPTER VI. BEHIND THE SCENES. An Amateur Theatre--The Author's Experience as "Imp" in a Spectacular Scene--A Trip to the Moon 69-85 CHAPTER VII. IN THE DRESSING-ROOM. Goodwin's "Make-up" for Hobbies--Booth and Company Playing "Hamlet" in Street Costume--Dressing-Rooms of Old-Time and Present Theatres--Louis Harrison Spoils a Play at San Francisco --How Actors "Make up" for Various Parts--The Hair-Dresser and the Actress 86-105 CHAPTER VIII. WITHIN THE WINGS.